"We will have two campaign tables with signs saying "Support the Steelworkers," "Defend Affirmative Action," "Join the Young Socialists," and "For a Workers and Farmers Government."

"It will be a place where fighters can come to have a political discussion," said Fitzsimmons, a member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees in Cleveland. Supporters of the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial will be coming to the action in buses and carloads with other unionists, he added.

"Some students from Kent High School are planning to come, including a member of the Young Socialists there. Three of my co-workers are also planning to participate. They got turned on by two AK Steelworkers who spoke at my local union meeting. That stirred things up," said the socialist activist. "They don't have subs to the Militant yet, but I'm working on them."

Supporters of the socialist press are sending in goals as they gear up for the international campaign to win new readers to the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial and to sell copies of the Marxist magazine New International. A chart with goals for the eight-week drive will be printed in the next issue of the Militant. Participants in the campaign will be using the Militant as they engage in political discussions with strikers on picket lines, co-workers on the job, students at high school and college campuses, farmers, and others.

Nearly 80 introductory Militant subscriptions were sent in during the first three weeks of March, which included a farmer in the Midwest and coal miner in the Appalachian region. Another 49 subs received by the Militant in March were renewals for six months, one and two years. One farmer in the South renewed his sub for one year. These sales results bode well for launching the circulation drive.

Militant supporters in the Midwest will get a boost for the campaign at the March 26 Reportback from Havana Book Fair event in Chicago, which will celebrate the publication of several new Pathfinder books. The new titles include Che Guevara Talks to Young People, the Spanish translation of Capitalism's World Disorder, and Making History: Interviews with Four Generals of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Some participants in the subscription effort have warmed up to sell subscriptions by diving into discussions at labor actions and at political events like the Rally for Rural America action in Washington, D.C. Farmers and others at the demonstration bought 100 papers, seven subscriptions to the Militant, five copies of the Farmers Face the Crisis of the 1990s, and one copy of Capitalism's World Disorder.

"It was pouring rain so we could not set up a literature table, otherwise we would have cleaned up," said Mary Martin, a member of the Machinists union. "There were many young people, including three high school students from Colorado who bought a copy of the Militant. One of them lived and worked on a hog farm and the other two worked on cattle farms. They were considering their future as farmers but were doubtful because of the crisis facing working farmers."

"At the AFL-CIO Working Women 2000 conference March 11-12 we found many participants interested in reading the Militant and Capitalism's World Disorder," wrote Maggie Trowe, a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers. "We sold 65 copies of the Militant, 13 introductory subscriptions, 2 copies of Perspectiva Mundial, and 9 copies of Capitalism's World Disorder. Many who couldn't buy the book at the time wrote down the title, author, publisher, and ISBN number so they could look it up in libraries or bookstores."

Mark Friedman from Los Angeles said, "We set up a literature table at the Boeing plant in Long Beach. The table sported a sign "Support SPEEA Strikers," referring to the Seattle Boeing engineers who have been on strike for a month. During the shift change at one gate, workers at the facility purchased 24 copies of the Militant and a Pathfinder book. One engineer who bought the paper said that their contract talks begin soon, as well as those of the production workers. Boeing is continuing to lay off workers as production of specific aircraft, like the MD-11, is phased out.

Boeing deliveries have been cut way back since the strike. In Seattle, the company announced that day that 5,000 more jobs may be cut as part of its continued downsizing, denying that the layoffs were related to the strike. Some UAW members told us that they were upset coming out of the last union meeting because the officials denounced the SPEEA strike and refused to support it.

One worker told us, 'We need solidarity with them so they can win because we are next. It's ridiculous not to support their strike.' Most workers knew very little about the strike. Several office workers also purchased the Militant."

Socialist workers organized in the industrial unions will have an abundance of opportunities to win new subscribers among fellow union members. Below is a report on sales and political discussions at an auto plant by a former member of the United Auto Workers who recently left her job to volunteer full-time at the Pathfinder print shop.  
 

Big sales to auto workers at good-bye party

Intense and virtually nonstop discussion occupied all my breaks. Subjects included Pathfinder's irreplaceable role and how volunteering to help print revolutionary books, as well as the commercial work to sustain them, is in essence the opposite of producing profits for the bosses.

I said, "I'll be helping to print these books and the Militant. So the next time you buy Pathfinder, you can say, 'Hey, I know someone who collated this book.'" It brought to mind the Pathfinder booklet Pathfinder Press Was Born with the October Revolution in which the author and president of Pathfinder, Mary Alice Waters, discusses the tremendous prejudice against manual labor the bourgeoisie fosters and stokes. The denigration of labor is part of hiding the power of our class from ourselves, the gravediggers of capitalism.

Co-workers organized a great good-bye party. One brought a cake and balloons and a wonderful card she'd gotten several people to sign. Six of the 10 co-workers at the party had a few years ago toured the Pathfinder building, which made a lasting impression on each of them.

In my last 11 days at Ford co-workers bought $230 worth of Pathfinder literature and five Militant subscriptions. Another co-worker renewed his subscription to Perspectiva Mundial at the Militant Labor Forum on Ecuador he attended after the party.

The books sold were three copies of Desorden Mundial del Capitalismo and two of Capitalism's World Disorder (which makes 20 in the Edison plant since its publication); four copies of Che Speaks to Young People, including two in Spanish; four copies of Pathfinder Was Born with the October Revolution to see what this move I was making was all about; one Changing Face of U.S. Politics; one On the Jewish Question by Leon Trotsky; and one Puerto Rico: Independence is a Necessity by Rafael Cancel-Miranda.  
 
 
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